Death Plays With Sales
by Magic Toad
Summary: When Yosuke receives an acceptance letter from the prestigious academy, Hope's Peak, he soon realises that it won't be the only thing surprising him...
1. Chapter 1 - Insanity In A Happy Package

**_Chapter One_**

**_Insanity in a Happy Package_**

When I had received the letter telling me that I had been accepted into Hope's Peak, appalled was an understatement. That academy was fit for only the the highest and best students, athletes, doctors... everything but ordinary people like me. And yet there it was, fluttering in my trembling hands, were the words, "HANAMURA YOSUKE - SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL SALESPERSON". Sure, I was pretty good at selling products at my father's department store, Junes, but I was almost certain I wasn't that good. Was I?

Doubts still present in my mind, I showed my parents the letter during dinner. They both thought it would be a great learning experience, as the teachers would be well trained and able to help me out. As much as I hated to admit it, my marks in school were a little below average... Though I wasn't quite sure if I wanted go to a school full of top students.

"What if they look down at me? Y'know my marks are a little... um..." I stared awkwardly at my fish on the plate in front of me, already beginning to get cold. My appetite was a bit butchered by my mixed feelings about the school letter. My mother urged me quietly to eat it while my father let out a long sigh.

"The teachers are trained, professional staff. If there's anyone that could raise your education levels, it would be them, the best teachers Japan has to offer. You should go."

Eventually, the conversation died down, and after a few, choked down bites of the slimy fish, I retreated to my bedroom for the night.

Weeks later I found myself standing in front of the renowned school, staring up at the tall building. As I took a few steps towards it, I felt a strange sensation in the pit of my stomach... One of excitement, the other of dread. Before I knew what it was, exactly, I crossed onto the property of the school, and my vision suddenly flickered into darkness.

-•-•-•-

I awoke to find myself in a classroom with no windows. Normally I wouldn't notice the absence of windows, but the fact that the room was mainly lit artificially was a bit strange to me. The walls seemed weirdly textured to me as well, almost too smooth and shiny. Almost... Metallic. Shaking the creeping feeling that someone was watching me, I slid my chair back and stood up, glancing around quizzically. Where was everyone, anyway? This wasn't a typical way to be welcomed into a school... Being knocked out and placed in a room.

...no, wait. That didn't make any sense. They wouldn't randomly knock students unconscious and drag them into the school. That wasn't proper etiquette. I must have fallen asleep during the welcome lecture or something.

Just as I got up, a slip of paper fell to the ground, blown by the small breeze I had created whilst standing up. I bent over to pick it up. In crude, purple crayon read the message:

"cOmE tO tHe GyMnAsIuM bY nInE o'ClOcK"

"...wow, someone with worse handwriting than me." I commented quietly to myself as I stuffed the note into my pocket and started to head for the gym. Just as I did, I instinctively pulled my headphones up onto my ears, only to realise...

They weren't connected to anything.

"Huh? Where's my phone?" I checked my pockets... once, twice, thrice.. Nope. Nothing was in them, besides the note I stuck in them mere moments earlier. Did they confiscate my phone? Surely I hadn't had my headphones on during their speech... Man, something was really up.

But still, I pressed on, walking through the eerily empty hallways, always glancing back in case someone was watching or following. There was always no one there, but I could feel some creepy presence... Could it be all the cameras around? Sure, cameras were normal in schools nowadays for security reasons, but why so many here?

Trying not to be bothered by it all, I soon arrived in the small room just outside the gym. The awards and trophies glistening in the clear display area caught my eyes as I walked by, but I forced myself not to look at them. There would be time to examine them later. Instead, I walked up to the door and opened it, stepping inside the large gymnasium. Inside, a group of various students stood... It appeared that I was one of the last to arrive. With a sheepish smile, I made my way through the group, introducing myself to each and every student.

The first person I talked to was a boy with silvery, short hair brushed to one side, and steel gray eyes. He wore a crisp, white dress shirt and black pants. A dark gray tie hung around his neck. A plain wardrobe, but more formal than my own; a hastily chosen white v-neck with an orange bird design, accompanied by a pair of red pants and white sneakers. As I briefly looked around before approaching the teen, I noticed my clothing didn't stand out too much; there were others dressed casually. Well, that was a relief.

Approaching the teen, I put on my friendliest smile. "Hey." It wasn't the most elaborate greeting, but it wasn't like I was a Super High School Level Greeter.

"...hi." The teen stared back at me with expressionless eyes. Much of a talker, wasn't he?

"Erm, I'm Hanamura Yosuke." I introduced myself, trying to get some conversation going.

"...Narukami Yu."

I blinked, recalling that name from the list of new students. However, it didn't bring on any association of titles. I briefly wondered what his talent was.. Would he tell me if I asked him? It was a try, at the very least. "Ah, what's your talent here, by the way? I got here by selling stuff, which is honestly not that great."

Yu merely blinked and stared at me.

Oh gee, thanks.

I decided to keep in my mental notes that he wasn't very talkative. Maybe I could challenge myself to get him to speak more than a few words at a time. I moved onto the next student, a feisty looking girl with brown hair and a green sweater. She wore a light, white shirt underneath, with a blue tank top under that. Light green shorts and running shoes finished the spring-like look. Green was her colour, it appeared. She seemed to be practicing some sort of martial art moves, and as I walked towards her, gave me a free full serving of pain - a hard kick to the stomach. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I slowly crumpled to the ground, my vision dimming a little. Ouch. Well, there was someone to definitely avoid in a bad mood.

"Hey! What're doing, jumping in front of my super secret dragon technique?" The girl shouted at me. She wasn't even going to say sorry, or at least help me up? I staggered to my feet, coughing a couple of times before glaring at her.

"I wasn't trying to get hit. You just decided to kick right when I was coming over."

"To be fair, you make a pretty decent punching bag..." She said thoughtfully. "Springy and light! And you have no hard muscles!" Ouch. Insult to injury much, girl?

"U-um, anyway, I'm Hanamura Yosuke." I quickly said, feeling the need to back away into a Safety Zone soon.

"Satonaka Chie!" She grinned hugely. "Martial artist extraordinaire!" Oh, that was right - Chie was a name I had heard before. She had won many tournaments before... Yowch, I got hit by her? I hastily moved to the next student.

She had long, black hair and wore a red top over a black shirt. A long, dark skirt flowed down from her hips, leading one's eyes to her legs, clad in knee highs - hey, I'm just being honest here! They were some pretty -

"Are you staring at me?" A soft voice caused me to look up; her face looked so smooth and perfect, and her eyes were so elegant...

"I said, are you staring at me?" She repeated, a bit more loudly this time, as if I hadn't heard.

"U-um... N-no, I was just spacing out." Another smooth move by the great Yosuke.

"Hmmph..." She pursed her lips, before glancing back at me, thinking. "Hmm.. Weren't you on the news? That salesperson or something like that?"

"H-huh? Oh, yeah. I'm Hanamura Yosuke." I smiled as best as I could, hoping I could grab at some redemption. I wasn't the proudest of the report, since I was a stuttering klutz in it, nearly dropping a whole tray of drinks on the reporter as she was asking me questions.

"My name is Amagi Yukiko." She replied quietly. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hanamura-san." She bowed neatly to me, and I was compelled to do the same.

"You can just call me Yosuke." I mumbled as I racked my brain for anything that fit the name Amagi... They ran a famous historical inn, didn't they? And Yukiko.. She was the supposed next manager of it. I made an oh-so-important note to check the inn out some day. I mean, if she was the one running it...

...I forced away the thoughts. I still had plenty of other introductions to get through.

The next teenager was tall and muscular, with bleached blonde hair combed back. His glare settled on me as I approached him... He seemed to be in the process of knitting some sort of stuffed animal? Well, I suppose everyone had their own talents... I walked up to him nonetheless.

"Hey, my name is Hanamura Yosuke." I offered him a smile, hoping he wasn't the violent type...

He seemed to notice that I was eying his work-in-progress bunny and he scowled at me. "Tatsumi Kanji. Beat it, punk unless you want to be beat up." Someone was definitely in a good mood today - not. Though... Tatsumi sounded familiar. That was some sort of textile shop in the small town near the city I lived in. And wasn't their son some knitting and sewing genius? Not to mention the legends of him beating up an entire biker gang... Yeesh, another person not to make enemies with. I quickly made my way to the next student.

The girl standing nearby had a face I was very familiar with. Her reddish-brown hair was tied up into two twin pony tails, and her curious gaze settled on me. I was too distracted to focus much on her attire - and orange top and black leggings, or something like that? I didn't really care - right in front of me was the super pop star idol Rise, better known as Risette. She was known throughout Japan, and even overseas. Just being in her very presence gave me a rush of nervous excitement.

"H-hi." I mumbled. Very smooth talker, here.

"Hiya!" She gave me one of her trademark smiles, along with a short wave. "I'm Rise Kujikawa! And who're are you?"

"...H-Hanamura Yosuke..." Wow, what an embarrassment. I mumbled something along the lines of, "Just call me Yosuke", though I wasn't sure if she heard it.

"Nice to meetcha!" She replied, taking my hand and eagerly shaking it. For a moment, I thought I was going to pass out... I was actually meeting a celebrity! Not only that, but her flowery perfume was unbearably strong... Did she usually use so much? I decided to move onto the next student, though a little disappointed I had to leave her.

The next was a face I also knew well... Naoto Shirogane. A mysterious detective who had revealed her true gender, not long ago. A certified genius who worked with many police forces to solve difficult crimes in Japan. I even heard that there were some companies who wanted to make movies or shows based off of her...

"Hello." I greeted her, trying to act mature. "My name is Hanamura Yosuke."

"Greetings, Hanamura-san." She responded with a slight bow. "You've probably have already heard of me. My name is Shirogane Naoto."

Past her introduction, she didn't seem much of a talker. I moved to the next student. Or rather, two students.

"Hey, how's it going?" A cheery voice greeted me, and I looked up to see two male students, both dressed in two different sports jerseys. It appeared to be... Soccer and basketball? They seemed to be around my kind of type, for levels of maturity and personalities. I gave them a huge grin and waved back at them before walking over.

"The name's Kou Ichigo." The basketball uniformed one with dark blue-ish hair replied.

"Daisuke Nagase." The other, brown haired student added.

"I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet you." Although I wanted to stay back and chat with them for a while, a quick glance at my watch told me I had to speed up my introductions. I quickly said good-bye to them before going on.

The next student was a girl with dark blue hair and some sort of delivery uniform on. I was a little surprised she wouldn't change into something more suitable for school, but I decided not to question it.

"Hello, I'm Hanamura Yosuke." I smiled.

"...Nakamura Aika." She responded emotionlessly. Paired with Yu, we could have a very silent comedy duo. Well... More like.. An un-comedy duo.

I passed by her to another student, who had messy black hair and was playing some handheld video game console... Or so it appeared. He was more yelling at it. Apparently getting mad that it wasn't functioning properly. I heard snippets such as "I want to play online!" and "Where's the wifi?!" After thinking for a while, I realised he was the famous (and infamous) gamer, Mitsuo Kubo. It wouldn't be the greatest idea to interrupt him while he was gaming - he was rumoured to have a bit of a temper. I went to the next student.

The boy was slim and blonde, with thin lips stretched into a small frown. He looked at me briefly, before saying, "My name is Konishi Naoki." He seemed to be dwelling on something, so I made my introduction quick before moving on.

"Hey, I'm Ozawa Yumi." A girl with short black hair greeted me. After wondering why she seemed familiar, I realised that she had been in many skits, plays and even movies and TV shows. She was incredibly adept at memorising lines from scripts in single readings.

"Hi, I'm Hanamura Yosuke." I smiled back at her.

"Oh, you're that salesperson, right?" She tilted her head slightly. "The one who sold a lot of products?"

"...yep." Wow, my talent was sounding lamer and lamer as it was repeated. But before I could say anymore, the sound of loud music being blasted over speakers could be heard. Several people covered their ears. I searched for the source of the sound, only to find a brightly coloured bear-like... thing standing on the stage. It looked like some sort of cheesy mascot, like the ones at cheap parades or promotional events.

"Gooooood morning everybear! I hope you've had a beary great day so far, bearcause I'm gonna welcome you all to Bear's Peak Bearcademy!" There were some muffled voices amongst the others, though the bear-thing soon hushed them. "Now, now... I know you're beary excited about getting to classes, but I must introduce myself first! I'm the bearmaster, Teddie. Bearfore we get ahead of ourselves, I need to mention somethin'.. In order to bearduate from this bearcademy, you must kill another student."

...

Wait, what?

**• Author's Notes •**

**In order to make the plot a bit smoother, the events of Persona 4 don't happen in this fanfic. And the characters come from different schools and cities. I hope this doesn't confuse anyone. I was going to leave everyone as being from Inaba, but as that would allow them to know each other fairly well and to be less likely to murder each other... ahh, adjustments were made~ If clarification is needed, feel free to message me or drop something in the comments and I'll reply next chapter!**

**Random note - for the name positioning, I was attempting some trend for formal and informal greetings... I probably should've kept that more slack |D**

**Wow, the bear puns are a bit teddie-ous, aren't they? ahahAAHHAHAHAHA~**

**~ Magic Toad**


	2. Chapter 2 - It Can't Get Worse, Right?

**Chapter Two:**

**It Can't Get Worse, Right?**

Now I'm not a big fan of school -much the opposite-, but murdering someone in order to graduate was a little ridiculous. I was relieved to see everyone else in the room was at least mildly surprised or shocked to hear the news. Fear rippled through the crowd like waves, quickly spreading and growing.

"A-are you kidding me?!" Chie shrieked, alarmed by the announcement. "N-no one's crazy enough to do something stupid like that!"

"...I wouldn't want to hurt anyone either..." Yukiko looked away, her hair obscuring her fair face from my view. She sounded pretty upset... No, almost hurt?

"And here I thought he was some cute mascot... He's just some freakish toy!" Kanji didn't seem to be taking it well. As I glanced around, pretty much everyone was reacting the same way... Well, almost everyone. I noticed that Yu looked completely unruffled. Did anything faze that guy? He stared up at Teddie, his gray eyes unblinking. I was almost impressed with how well he was getting along with this idea...

And then there was me.

Surely, this was all just some terrible dream? It certainly would teach me not too eat too many sweets before bed time. Or whatever I had been eating. I slowly moved my hand over to my other arm and pinched it tightly. I clenched my teeth; perhaps a little harder than necessary, but it confirmed my fears - this was not a dream. Or night mare.

"Ku-ku-kuma! I'm not kidding!" Teddie chuckled, his belly jiggling in an unnatural way. "Check your Bearcadamy devices! It's in the rules, kuma!"

Academy devices...? I reached into my pocket. My fingers hit something cold and metallic, and I pulled out the strange object. It was shaped almost like a mobile video game console of sorts. I clicked through the menu screen to the option labelled 'RULES'.

As I looked through the pages, dread began to fill my chest... So you did have to kill someone in order to 'graduate', or leave the school. But that wasn't the only thing; you had to do it without getting caught. There was a class trial after every murder, and if the culprit was caught, only they were 'executed'. If the culprit wasn't found, then everyone else would get 'executed', and the real murderer would get to 'graduate'.

I looked over at everyone else as they finished reading. Some appeared ready to throw their devices on the ground, while others were downright tense.

"So, what do you bears think about our bear-new rules? They're not actually that new, but they're new to me, ku-ku-kuma!" Teddie laughed again. "Although I miiiight have to change them for this class.. In the past they didn't work so well."

There was another class? What happened to them?!

"I'll have you bears settle down bearfore we have any of the fun stuff happen! We oughta have the tensions rise and the emotions to flare to make it even more bear-citing!" Teddie added before disappearing, just as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving us in a stunned silence.

Eventually I decided to speak up.

"T-that's never gonna happen... No one here's gonna be crazy enough to do that." At least, I hoped. "We can't let this get to us. We need to stick together somehow and get through this." It was absolutely cheesy, yet I saw some people nodding vaguely.

"I'm sure I could probably kick that stupid bear to oblivion." Chie thought aloud, before practicing some air kicks. "I mean, if we get rid of him, he can't tell us what to do, right? We just gotta find him!" Although her determination was admirable, there was something about her words that made me unsure. Kanji had called Teddie a 'toy'. Indeed, although his movements were quite fluid, I highly doubted he was real. And if he wasn't real, there could be a slight chance he could either repair himself, or make more copies. It was a sickening idea, but not impossible.

"I think we need to gather more information before we take action." Yu stepped into the middle of the group suddenly, his cool voice interrupting the chittering of the others. "Hanamura is correct - we must think and act together. If we split up and get tense, that will only give Teddie what he wants."

"Not all of us want to work with other people." Mitsuo retorted, not even raising his head from his game.

"This isn't some happy little family, you know. You can't expect us to suddenly become friends and help each other out." Naoki added with a glare. "I, for one, prefer to act independently."

So much for sticking together...

"I don't know about you, but I want to get outta here!" Kanji shouted at the thin boy, picking him up by his collar. Naoki didn't even bat an eye.

"You see, this can't work out." Naoki sighed heavily.

"Look..." I stepped in, "If you want to stay here forever and not figure out anything, then do what you want. But those who wish to find a way out, we should group together." There were a couple murmurs here and there before most of the students disbanded, leaving the gymnasium.

"...so you're a salesperson, huh?" Yu raised an eyebrow as he stopped beside me.

"Yeah, not a leader." I bit my lip. "This wasn't how I wanted my school life to go..."

"Only time will tell..." Yu silently left the gymnasium with the others.

**• Author's Notes •**

** JudgementTH ~ Thanks for taking the time to review! To answer you, the main direction of this fic is to immerse the characters of Persona 4 into Danganronpa, yet keeping the idea of the latter more intact. So it won't follow the plot of either one, but instead have the ideas from Danganronpa (executions, motives, etc.) I will try my best to keep the characters as close to IC, while still having some, yes, murders. While there are still going to be murders and investigations, it won't have anything to do with televisions, Adachi or people with abnormally long noses who appear in your dreams. I've seen some P4 and DR crossovers before, but haven't quite been satisfied with the portrayals.**

**As for my choice of Yosuke, there's a couple (or so) reasonings. He's my favourite character, and I've role-played him quite a bit, so I'm quite comfortable with writing him. Also, his personality works with my writing style, with quips and sarcasm here and there. I'm not so huge on his flirty personality (shown more so in the anime than the game), so that part will be less predominant. Hope that answers your questions!**

** The Lonesome Bear ~ Glad you like it so far! I'll try my best to update as much as I can. It'll depend on my motivation, as I'm a bit of a lazy person. SHSL Lazy right here ;D**

**I was going to use the "pupupupu" laugh that Monokuma uses, but decided instead to use "ku-ku-kuma", kinda a ref to how Teddie says "kuma" after almost all his sentences in the Japanese version of Persona 4. As for any clever Japanese puns... I don't have any, apologies~ I know next to nothing when it comes to the language... I'll have to change that some time..**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone! :)**

**~ Magic Toad**


	3. Chapter 3 - Heavy Tensions

**Chapter Three**

**Heavy Tensions**

Once everyone had left, I checked the map on my device. Apparently, there were personal quarters for every student, including me. I headed to my own; might as well check it out while everyone else was off doing other things.

The map lead me down a hallway lined with doors. On each door was a name tag, along with some video game-esque character -supposedly of us-. I pushed open my door, finding it unlocked a little to my surprise. It was quite clean inside, though the camera in the corner unnerved me. Did that mean that someone would be watching me sleep...? Creepy. And there were steel panels on the walls as well. If I wasn't disturbed enough from the whole murder idea, I was definitely not liking the additions to this room.

Tentatively, I slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. It was quite comfy... I found myself beginning to drift off, and would've slept had it not been for a great welcome from the dear headmaster.

"Hellooooo Hana-chan!" The voice said brightly, and I looked up to see Teddie's face on a nearby screen. Yeesh, so he was watching us!

"Aw, you don't seem beary happy to see me. Is it bearcause you're in school forever? Boo hoo hoo. Beartter get killing! Oh, if it makes you feel any beartter, I put a little present in your drawers bearside your bed. Ku-ku-kuma!" With that, his image faded from the screen.

I decided to slide open the drawer beside my bed. Inside sat a deluxe set of kitchen knives... A professional chef brand of some sort. Back at my father's store, it would've been pretty expensive. I picked up one of the knives and ran my finger down the blade... It looked deadly sharp. One hit from this and...

No.

I couldn't allow myself to think this way. That was what Teddie wanted from us; to collapse and lose control of ourselves... To kill. I couldn't do that. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn't possibly bring myself to do such a thing. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I took someone else's life.

I place the knife back into the drawer and lay back on the bed. Uneasily, I fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

"Don't you dare get any closer you creep!"

I awoke to yelling in the hallway and quickly ran out of my room to check it out. When I arrived, Yukiko was shouting at Mitsuo.

"Yuki, are you sure you don't -"

"No!"

I stepped between the two before Mitsuo could reach out and grab her.

"Hey, hands off." I glared at him. He scowled at me before going off, presumably to his own room. Yukiko looked at me for a few moments before briefly nodding in appreciation. She scurried off as well.

Now woken, I decided to go explore more of the school. Everyone else seemed to be in their rooms or in the cafeteria area, so it was more quiet. I stayed cautious, in case someone was crazy enough to pull something afterwords.

My evening -was it evening? My watch and phone weren't working- stroll didn't find me very much besides discovering many gates, locked doors and a very large kitchen filled with food and utensils. Fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as baked goods. As I ventured further into the room, I heard a boiling noise, and someone chopping. A flash of silver caught my eye; it appeared Yu was cooking something, and it smelled delicious. I entertained the idea of his talent being a chef, but I was fairly certain he'd be all over the news and internet, especially for being so young.

Yu briefly turned around and took notice of me, but only gave me a brief nod of acknowledgement before continuing with whatever he was cooking. Obviously I wasn't going to get much out of him, so I left the kitchen.

When I entered the cafeteria, there was a heated discussion awaiting me. It was a small group of four - Naoki, Naoto, Chie and Yumi.

"This isn't fair! We're gonna be stuck in here forever!" Yumi was pacing back and forth anxiously. Naoto sighed quietly, although her concerned gaze betrayed her calm facade.

"There is no use in panicking. Surely authorities have knowledge of this ordeal by now. If not, we can find clues to escaping, and the origins of the academy. That bear... it mentioned that the rules didn't work well for the class before us, which may mean they were able to escape. It appeared disappointed when it said that, so it would be a logical assumption." The detective said. It was definitely reassuring that someone was sane and intelligent...

"Or one of us can just kill. I mean, that's what the bear wants, am I right?" Naoki retorted coolly. Before I could interrupt, Chie angrily leapt in.

"How can you say that?! Taking another human life - that's just ridiculous!" She shouted at him, her hands balled into fists.

"...I woke up one day to discover my sister's body, hanging. Death doesn't scare me." Naoki turned away, walking out of the room. That was one less person on our little hope team, it appeared. And someone to watch out for... He could easily come up as a suspect.

"Not everyone can be understood at first sight." A voice behind quietly stated. It was Yu, and he brought with him a large platter of stir-fry. Aika arrived from the kitchen with plates; it seemed like dinner -or lunch?- was ready. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to eat with an uneasy stomach, but I sat down nonetheless... I hadn't eaten for a while, and it seemed I would be needing energy sooner or later.

While the meal was quite tasty, the atmosphere remained grim. No one said a word. Not until everyone was done.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked as I pushed my plate away, some vegetables still on the edge. "I mean, besides not killing each other. Taking the assumption that bear won't do anything past telling us to do stuff, we should be pretty okay otherwise."

"Investigating this academy and the origins of 'Teddie' are still priorities." Naoto responded. "Does anyone have any information on that?"

"I looked around, but all I found were a lot of locked doors and gates closing off stair cases." Chie spoke up. "I tried kicking some open, but none of them budged!"

"They could be reenforced with steel, like how the walls are." Yu suggested.

"Ku-ku-kuma!"

A familiar and not-so-welcome figure bounced onto the table. Teddie spun around a couple of times before facing us.

"If you wanna explore the rest of the bearcademy, you gotta go through class trials and uncover some murderers! And if you're not gonna do that, I may have to make some motives!"

The bear spun again before disappearing.

"We have to have people die in order for us to see the rest of the school?!" Chie looked startled by the idea.

"It seems very determined to make us do what it wants." Naoto mused. "If we're not careful, we might succumb to these 'motives' it mentioned."

"Who can we trust?" Yumi asked worriedly.

"...depends... Anyone can be a killer or a victim here. To be honest, we will only be able to trust ourselves." Naoto replied darkly. "Even if we make a pact, there's no telling whenever someone will turn on us. Plus, there are individuals who may not want to team up."

Leaving that thought with us, she stood up and left the cafeteria.

**• Author's Notes •**

**At the end of the third chapter! I'm trying my best to actually work on this, now that I've gotten more free time. Free time for plotting about teenagers locked in a school... Usual stuff, neh?**

**...references all over the place... Congrats if you pick 'em up. As for the "hope team".. Well, not everything can last forever. And especially not when you're stuck in a school with a pun-filled bear as your headmaster. Those puns almost physically hurt...**

**Anyway! Until next chapter, readers~ It's always a pleasure.**

**~Magic Toad**


	4. Chapter 4 - True or False

**Chapter Four:**

**True or False?**

Shrouded in deep darkness, a figure stood before me. I couldn't tell who it was, but they seemed to be holding a sharp knife with a jagged edge. A steak knife, perhaps? But before I could move or speak, they lunged towards me, arm bent and ready to strike. A scream was stuck in my throat as the knife sliced into...

"Ku-ku-kuma! Time to wake up, everybear! There's people to murder, and bodies to hide! You mustn't dilly-dally~"

I jolted awake to Teddie's voice, groaning. What a kind reminder, after one hell of a dream. Still, I managed to drag myself out of bed and searched my drawers to find some fresh clothes. So they didn't take all of my belongings, after all. I had packed away extra shirts and a pair of pants in my bag when I first came to the school. I mean... They were always good back up. Especially if you had a habit of crashing into trash cans on a daily basis.

...it would be best not to acknowledge that...

I decided to take a quick shower before changing. It might've been a figment of my imagination, but I could swear I head someone laughing as I rinsed my hair.

Trying my best to forget about the laughter, I returned to my room in fresh clothes. As I did, I noticed that the monitor was turned on and Teddie was waiting patiently for me.

"Okay, what do you want this time?" I scowled at him. As much as I was pretty infuriated with the bear, I hoped he wasn't cooking up another plot. The shine in his eyes was certainly disheartening.

"Ku-ku-kuma! Why don't you tell me that, Hana-chaaan~?" Teddie chuckled, and the screen changed to static. Then... To a foggy, suspicious looking alleyway, presumably in a city. Yet the sky looked red, and there seemed to be way too much fog. A silhouette pulled itself away from the shadows and stepped forward. Though it was hard to see, I instantly recognised who it was...

Me.

Me with glowing yellow eyes and a twisted smile, more like.

The other me laughed darkly, as if delighted by my fear. He made a motion as if I should follow him off camera... and the angle of the scene shifted slightly, showing the other me walking out of the alleyway. In front of him stood a run down Junes, with broken glass sprinkled around its windows and graffiti caked over the walls. The other me turned back to the camera, and smirked.

"Why so afraid...? I thought this is what you've always wanted, Yosuke... Or rather, I should say me."

"M-me?" I took a step back from the screen. "I-is this some sorta joke? You can't be me!"

The other me laughed again. "Oh, c'mon. Don't pull that crap on me! You know full well who I am... I guess you could call me a 'shadow'. Your shadow. I'm always with you, even if you don't want to acknowledge me. The shadow of your heart and mind... all that good, dark stuff you'd never admit to anyone else."

"N-no... You must be some sorta imposter pretending to be me, a-aren't you? And this must be some stupid video, isn't it?" I shouted back at him. Some voice in the back of my head tried to tell me that videos didn't talk back, but my mind wasn't thinking clearly anymore.

"Tsk, tsk, me. You're not that dull... Hopefully, or you're not getting outta this shit-hole of a school. Unless you enjoy being shipped out in a nice little coffin with your name engraved on it... though I'd assume it'd be more of a body bag with your name taped on."

"So you're saying I should kill someone? Don't be ridiculous!"

"Oh, but it shouldn't be much of a problem for you." The glint in my shadow's eye unnerved me.

"U-um, yeah, it would! It would be a huge freaking problem!"

"But think of it this way... You've always hated the world, so why not get your revenge by getting rid of people who wronged you?" The shadow proposed, leaning up against the vandalized Junes. "I mean... The school system pretty much screwed you over, and to hell with society's rules! Everyone's always judging you, so why not take their lives in exchange? It's only fair. Your life for theirs. And when you're done getting rid of the vermin, you can rule the world... If there anyone's even left. Perhaps you could let a couple survive. Servants, all dancing in the palm of your hand, all to the beat of your music. Wouldn't that be wonderful? A great -"

The screen shattered. There was a look of shock on the shadow's face right before his image disappeared. I didn't remember doing it, or even thinking about it, but I broke the monitor with a small trash can. I stared at the can for a few moments... Strangely, it was quite heavy, and the metal was thick. If enough force was used, it could really injure someone. I decided to keep the can away from anyone who could potentially use it in the heat of the moment. As bizarre as it would be, it would kind of suck to have 'death by garbage can' on your tombstone. And I wasn't going to volunteer myself.

A thought occurred to me - if I saw this, would that mean everyone else did? I grimaced. Surely that wouldn't be the case. I headed out of my room just in case.

No one was in the hallway, so I went to the cafeteria to see if anyone was there. Only Yu was, quietly reading something on his academy device. I quietly walked over and sat across from him.

"H-hey, man... Did Teddie show you anything funky this morning?" I inquired as nonchalantly as I could.

"Oh... That shadow business? It's one of his tricks. He wants us to begin plotting murder by showing us ourselves... or dark selves. They're not real." He replied, just as casually. Or so his blank voice implied..

"W-wait, so you didn't see me on that screen? That's a relief." I sighed heavily.

"Is there something you're hiding?" He glanced up, raising an eyebrow. As innocent as his question sounded, I could feel his eyes digging into me, trying to analyze me. It was almost as if someone else had taken over him...

"Of course not! Nothing that related to this, really... Haha..."

"...still, it's not good to hide things from others. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, you'll seem suspicious. While suspicions can get you framed easily, they can also get you killed easily." Yu replied, his tone colder than usual.

"Dude, please don't consider murdering anyone!" The way he spoke disturbed me... Did his shadow get to him, after all?

"AHHHHH!"

A scream pierced the air, soon followed by the sound of bells and an announcement.

"Ladies and gentlebears! It seems that our first body has been discovered! Please proceed to the gymnasium to hear the next steps! Ku-ku-kuma!"

**• Author's Notes •**

**So, um, Animal Crossing and Ace Attorney suddenly took over my life. So if anyone starts speaking like Tom Nook or Apollo, there's my answer. **

**Excluding my hobbies, I somehow grew really busy all of a sudden, so a late-ish update! Again, I will try my best to keep the chapters going, so the story will flow more easily for y'all~**

**...and yep... Protagonist references and Shadows. HeyIthoughttheprotagjokesareprettygreat...!**

**'Til next chapter!**

**~Magic Toad**


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